Re: Big San Francisco Earthquake
We had a pretty big one in Seattle a couple of years back. Magnitude 6.8 near Nisqually.
The quake started as a single "thump", which I mistook for the roofers dropping a piece of machinery on the roof. Several seconds later, a north-to-south swaying motion became evident, which increased in intensity over the next 15-20 seconds. By this time, it was no longer possible for anybody in the building to stand unaided. The dominant sounds were those of breaking glass and large bangs & thumps from furniture, large appliances, and home electronics falling to the floor; and of doors banging back and forth. A loud slow rattling noise was also evident, along with various creaks, cracks, and groans from the building's structure itself. The sound of the elevator car slamming into the walls of the elevator shaft was also evident.
At around 30 seconds, the breaking glass and falling object noises became spaced farther apart as fewer and fewer objects remained upright. The water was thrown out of toilets and fishtanks (those which didn't come down), and hanging fixtures banged against walls or broke off the ceiling.
Finally, at approximately 40 seconds, the violent swaying subsided, and was pretty much gone around ten seconds after that.
A buzzing noise became evident after everything stopped moving. Three sources were located: a computer monitor soaked in water from the fishtank, an outlet strip shorting out from water entry, and the fishtank pump running dry after too much water was thrown out of the tank.
No other damage to live electrical systems was found.
Down the 3rd floor hall, I heard a toliet flush, and then the sound of splashing water and that of something being knocked over and breaking. Presumably, the toilet flooded and its owner was pawing through debris to find their plunger or some towels.
Nobody around here was injured, but my unit sustained virtual total damage to almost everything I have here. Almost whatever was unbreakable did not become broken (I say "almost", because a Turtlelite II became broken after something heavy fell on it), but most breakable objects DID break. (and I say "most" because a large majority of my glass insulator collection just bounced around on the couch and did not become broken when they flew out of the window)